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Thursday, 9 December 2010

Why Must Thou Be So Cruel, December?

Hey everybody. Let's talk about the weather!

Alright! So interesting.

It is universally acknowledged that if you ever find yourself discussing the weather with someone, that probably means you don't know what to say to this person and probably are speaking to them against your will. As an acute observer of awkward social situations, I used to find weather-related conversation appeared most often when stuck in a slow moving elevator where you could cut the silence with a knife. Of course, my days of always being stuck in a slow moving elevator were before everybody and their dog had smart phones, and smart pens, and smart handbags, and...etc...., so there was really no way to look busy and isolate yourself from your fellow man unless you were reading a book or a newspaper or talking on your Motorola Razr phone.

(Remember when the Razr was THE phone and it came in so many different colours and it was so slim! Now it's probably a technological dinosaur and T-Rex is pissed he can't use it because his arms are too short.)

But Internet, I am going to talk about the weather and I don't want you to think it's because I have nothing to say or don't really want to be talking to you. I mean, have we met? I can usually find something to say about anything. Want to discuss some horrendous TLC broadcasting? I'm your girl. Want to squeal with delight over that magical fairyland otherwise known as Ikea? SQUEE! I can do that. Want to discuss what you're currently reading? LOVE TO. Want to discuss politics? Well, I've got Dan for that so he'll happily listen to you.

So the weather. The weather. Did you know that it rained on Monday? That it rained on Tuesday? And that last night there was a THUNDER STORM complete with (you guessed it) rain? I don't actually recall ever hearing a thunderstorm in December, and it was really eerie and spooky. My cats were both sleeping on their own respective chairs, and they were both so scared by the rumbling and cracking that Cosmo got up and hopped into Poppy's chair. So you know it's loud when those two choose to seek comfort in one another.

And this morning, well at some point in the night the rain turned to snow so there is a small scattering of white dust here and there, but it will be gone once the sun really starts shining. This saddens me because we had so much snow just a week ago. In fact, there was so much snow the buses were actually running five to six minutes behind schedule! That is monumental.

So today I would like to hold a little eulogy for the snow that was here for so short a time. But in its short time here in Bern it touched our lives, it caused havoc with public transport, and most importantly: it looked beautiful.

Snow flurry from my window, and scenes from my neighbourhood.

Country lanes and quiet fields.

Nesting homes and frosty barbs.

Deep trails and broken paths.

Birds leave cold branches while lost mittens warm narrow perches.

So long, last week's snow, you will be missed.

But hear this, Weather. Get your act together because my sisters arrive next week and we demand a winter wonderland!